Scheetz runs for Hallsville school board after 2017 lawsuit against district

Thursday

Mar 1, 2018 at 7:07 PM

Rudi Keller @CDTCivilWar

Businessman Paul Scheetz will do anything he can to help his son, a senior at Hallsville High School, win acceptance to the U.S. Naval Academy and last year that meant suing the school district over a failing grade.

The lawsuit was dismissed about 40 days after it was filed but the dispute is one of the reasons Scheetz is now a candidate for the Hallsville Board of Education. In an interview Thursday, Scheetz also said he is concerned about the district’s finances and increasing teacher pay to be more competitive with surrounding districts.

Suing the district wasn’t a path to popularity, Scheetz said.

“A lot of people in our community and I, of course, knew this would be the case, and some have found my action against the district very upsetting,” he said.

Scheetz is one of five board candidates in the northeast Boone County district with just under 1,400 students. Two incumbents, Jessica Hassler and David Athon, are seeking re-election and two other challengers, Mike Hamilton and Tonya Schleeter, are also running. Voters will fill two seats in the April 3 election.

“The feedback that I have gotten from the community when they found out about the suit was that they were pretty angry and it was an extreme reaction,” Hassler said.

Schleeter declined to comment on the lawsuit and wrote in a message that she wants her campaign to focus on her ideas for the district. Hamilton and Athon could not be reached Thursday.

Cole Scheetz is president of the Hallsville High School FFA and has wanted to attend the academy at Annapolis, Md., since he was 10, his father said. U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, nominated Cole Scheetz but he was not accepted for admission in the fall.

The dispute with the district was over how it recorded Cole Scheetz’s grade for Algebra II when he was a junior. During the fall of 2016, the math teacher was on maternity leave and left video lessons for the class to assist the substitute, who was not a certified math teacher. Cole Scheetz received an F in the class.

Cole Scheetz enrolled in an online course to repeat the work, and passed with a C. Under district practice, both grades appear on his transcript. Paul Scheetz tried to get the district to remove the failing grade because it would not look good on his academy application.

The lawsuit was filed July 25, after several weeks of unsuccessfully attempting to persuade the district to change its practice that included taking the issue to the board, which voted 4-2 against allowing the change. The case was dismissed Sept. 5.

The lawsuit, filed against the district, Superintendent John Downs, three other administrators and school board members, alleged that the district practices violated Cole Scheetz’s constitutional rights to due process and equal treatment because students with higher but also failing grades could redo some work and raise the original grade.

“The mistreatment of Cole was arbitrary and capricious, and sufficient to shock the conscience of a reasonable person,” the lawsuit stated.

Amy Clendennen, the attorney representing the district, wrote in response that there is no constitutional issue at stake in the way Hallsville handles grading and recording course results. Cole Scheetz's overall class standing made his acceptance at the academy questionable, she noted.

“Simply put, plaintiffs are attempting to use the court system to achieve an outcome for Cole to which he is not entitled by law — a grade superior to the ‘F’ he earned in Algebra II,” Clendennen wrote.

In an interview, Downs said he could not comment on school board candidates but did address the district’s response to Scheetz’s concerns about his son. The district reviewed its practices for allowing students to make up for failing grades and decided no changes are needed, Downs said.

He surveyed districts across north Missouri, he said. Of the 15 who responded, all handle transcripts in a similar manner, he said.

“We continuously review all of our programs so we are best meeting student needs and we also try to improve our efficiency,” Downs said.

Scheetz said his son has a plan to raise his academic standing and gain admission to the academy. If he wins a seat on the board, he said he will not try to alter his son’s transcript.

“I have no problem with the grade remaining on my son’s academic record,” Scheetz said. “Ultimately it is his responsibility.”

rkeller@columbiatribune.com

573-815-1709

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